The investigation into the April 17 explosion in West has not reached any conclusions, but developments last week raised the possibility that it wasn’t purely accidental. First, federal authorities arrested paramedic Bryce Reed after tracing bomb-making materials to him. Soon after, Texas Rangers said they have launched a criminal investigation into the tragedy, which killed 15 people and injured 200 others.

Reed, who rushed to the plant after the explosion, may well have had nothing to do with the blast. Authorities have not publicly linked him to the disaster at West Fertilizer Co., where large supplies of highly explosive ammonium nitrate fertilizer were stored.

Counterterrorism experts have long thought that quiet rural settings like West are way down the list of potential targets for attack. But the possibility of sabotage in this case reminds us all that any site where large amounts of industrial chemicals are stored is susceptible to foul play. Terrorists know that their targets don’t necessarily have to involve skyscrapers and airplanes to inflict widespread damage and publicize whatever twisted cause they espouse.

The investigation has made clear that West Fertilizer was woefully undersecured. The plant reportedly had 11 burglaries in the 12 years before the explosion. In addition to having stored 540,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate, the plant also had large tanks of toxic anhydrous ammonia. At least five chemical leaks were reported in that period amid evidence that tanks had been tampered with. Yet the company did not install so much as a perimeter security fence.

West Fertilizer also had not taken minimum fire-suppression steps. A simple sprinkler system could have doused the flames and cooled the ammonium nitrate before it heated to the point of exploding.

Since the plant was just outside town limits, it did not have to comply with local safety ordinances. The state doesn’t mandate sprinkler systems or security fences. All that’s left are industry best practices, to which West Fertilizer’s owners apparently paid little heed.

Tougher state regulations may be in order. But Texas isn’t the only state where such conditions exist. The vulnerabilities exposed by the West disaster make clear that a uniform minimum standard of safety and security around large-scale chemical storage facilities must become mandatory nationwide. That means Congress must act.

The rules should not be so onerous and costly that they drive small companies out of business. But chemical-handling companies must disabuse themselves of the notion that a rural location excuses them from safety and security procedures. They, too, must gird themselves against people intent on inflicting carnage and destruction.

Preventive best practices

The National Fire Protection Association and other groups have spelled out ways to prevent the kind of fire and explosion that occurred at West Fertilizer Co. Among the best practices that the plant did not meet or appears to not have met:

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